FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DRINKING WATER - PAGE 5

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has prepared 4,898 Hydro-Geo-Morphological Maps for ground water prospecting and selecting sites for artificial ground water recharge, the Government informed Rajya Sabha today. In his written reply, Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramkripal Yadav said that the ministry sought the services of the National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation , Hyderabad and prepared 4,898 HGM maps in all the states and Union Terriroties of the country and distributed them for ground water prospecting and selection of sites for artificial groundwater recharge . The Minister also said that using HGM maps and subsequently undertaking specific geo-physical studies, localised sites for construction of sustainability structures could be taken up, which may have potential to reduce the insitu chemical contamination like fluoride in ground water based drinking water sources through dilution.

ERODE: With mounting opposition to the proposed Coca Cola plant at Perundurai over fears that use of groundwater by it would deplete groundwater levels, the company has clarified that it would meet its needs from Small Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) in that town. "HCCB (Hindustan Coca Cola Bevegares Pvt Ltd) has no plans to extract groundwater at any stage for any use in the operations at Perundurai and intends to take water from SIPCOT to meet the industrial water requirement," Kalyan Ranjan, Vice President, Public affairs and Communication, HCCB said.

By Arvind Virmani and Charan Singh The unfortunate incident in Badaun and similar others has raised the issue of lack of sanitation facilities in India. According to a recent Report released by World Health Organization (WHO), India continues to be a country with the highest number of people in the world practicing open defecation (OD) - about half of its population. Of the one billion people practicing OD in the world, 597 million live in India. India's performance is worse than that of other emerging market economies and least developed countries (LDCs)

NEW DELHI: With thousands of habitations being affected by water contamination , Health Minister J P Nadda today said this was leading to complications and even death and stressed the need for intensive co-ordination with various entities to ensure safe drinking water. "14,132 habitations are affected by contamination of fluoride and 1,991 habitations are affected by arsenic," Nadda said in Lok Sabha during Question Hour, citing information provided by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation . Contaminated drinking water can cause various diseases such as cholera, typhoid and acute encephalitis syndrome.

NEW DELHI: Home appliances maker Eureka Forbes has launched mobile water purifier 'Aquaguard-on-the -Go', priced at Rs 595. Aquaguard-on-the-Go is in shape of a sipper loaded with miniaturised water purification technology and would be available across retail outlets and general stores, Eureka Forbes said in a statement. It would be available in four variants - black mystery, pink beauty, pearl white and racy blue, Eureka Forbes, a part of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, said.

Last year, Ritu Gupta got the biggest scare of her life. Over 80% of the residents in her housing colony in Kaushambi â€" in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi â€" were down with typhoid. "I was concerned about my eight-year-old daughter and was praying desperately," recalls Gupta. The prayers may have worked. None in her family was infected with the waterborne disease. Gupta is quick to give credit to the gods â€" and to the direction they gave her. "God gave me the wisdom to switch to bottled water when almost everyone in the society was using purifiers," says the 41-year old homemaker, adding that the water quality in her locality is such that even purifiers are of no use. Gupta and her family may have been saved, but there are millions in this country who fall prey to waterborne diseases every day. And this may be happening in spite of the use of water purifiers.

By Jyoti Pande Lavakare What if India was able to provide clean drinking water to its poorest citizens at truly affordable rates? What if that water was harvested from the ground and purified by clean solar energy so efficiently that it used less than one third the energy a regular solar purifier used? What if the actual purification of water could be customized to the region — areas with high flouride or arsenic versus areas with high bacterial pollutants getting different cleaning processes working for them — and the water dispensed with the help of a smartcard?

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is considering exempting packaged drinking water from the 16% excise duty. The food processing ministry has proposed the exemption to make packaged water more affordable as the water sold on the roads is unhygienic. The ministry has further argued the high duty on water negatively affects food processing as water is the main ingredient for the small-scale food processing sector. The finance minister has, over the past three years, announced major sops for the food processing industry.

NEW DELHI: Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea Ltd today said it has resumed production at its Haldia plant that was shut two months back on slump in international demand. The Haldia facility caters 100 per cent to the export market and produces bottle-grade PET resin, for packaging of drinking water, carbonated soft drinks, edible oil and pharmaceuticals. "With reference to the earlier announcement dated August 14, 2014 and September 15, 2014, regarding shutdown of Plant I of the Company at Haldia.

NEW DELHI: Among the reasons that the Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP ) won electoral support in Delhi may have been its pledges to provide 700 litres of free drinking water each day along with a 50% reduction in electricity tariff . The substantial support for Arvind Kejriwal's party stems from the fact that 15.6% of Delhi's urban households and 29.7% of its rural ones don't get sufficient drinking water throughout the year, well above the...